Hazmat Training and Compliance Basics

[10 Step Hazmat Shipper Starter Guide]
Details for beginners about hazmat classification, packaging, labels, & more.

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There's a lot to know when you ship hazardous materials! To ship hazmat safely and legally in (or out of) the United States, shippers need a strong grasp on several complicated concepts and Federal government regulations.

US Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, and international rules, apply to anyone who prepares or offers for transportation a package containing hazardous materials—such as poison gases, flammable and/or corrosive solvents, and much more. Plus, consumer products regulated as hazmat include adhesives, paints, perfumes, inks, oils, alcohols, aerosols, lithium batteries, medicines, pesticides, cleaning products, etc. In short, regulations for shipping hazmat cover an incredible variety of products, including some that you may not think of as “hazardous” at at all.

Hazmat Training: The first step for new shippers in the US to consider is hazmat training for employees. Hazmat training is required by law for anyone who does a job like identifying a hazardous material, assigning a hazard class, choosing packaging, packing a box, filling a container, affixing labels, loading a vehicle, or any other task that "affects the safety of the shipment in transportation."

The US Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) refer to these workers as “hazmat employees" and requires them to be trained within 90 days of hire date or job assignment. Comprehensive hazmat re-training or "recurrent" hazmat training is required every 3 years, at a minimum. See 49 CFR 172.704.

#hazmat #hazardousmaterials #hazmattraining #safety

[notanotherusername]

Thank you for really explaining this. Well about the training requirements. I am a truck driver and a lot of the times I haul hazardous material. 9 times out of 10. The shipper has done something incorrectly. What is the enforcement, how do you report a shipper that has no idea what a shipper certification is? One that doesn't even have any labels? What am I supposed to do as a driver?